The Second One
by atrfla
Summary: A normal girl from a normal school with supposedly normal friends discovers that the place of her fantasy dreams, the Matrix, is real... and not only that, but she has come to save Zion when the Machines break their treaty. This little girl will have to take Neo's place and carry on his legacy... is Aubrey Williams able to do it?
1. Chapter 1: It's Real

"Aubreyyyyyyy!" My best friend Bailey's voice echoed throughout the crowded hallway. My sharp ears picked up the cry that would normally be lost in the hubbub, and I spotted Bailey's long mane of elbow-length wavy red hair moving at a rapid pace throughout the sea of people. I started pushing my way towards her. She leaped over a backpack and grabbed my wrists.

"Aubrey, Aubrey!" she panted. "Come here, quick!" She turned and ran.

"What's happened?" I said, following her obediently.

"It's Callie and Lauren and Yvonne- come on, come on," she urged, ducking under an outstretched arm.

"What's wrong with them?" I gasped, jumping over the spilled contents of a lunchbox.

In reply, she seized my arm and jerked me through the remainder of the crowd, into a very spacious… and dark… janitor's closet.

I crouched near the floor as Bailey slammed the door closed and fumbled around. "Where is it… where is… _aha_!" She tugged a chain and one dull lightbulb flickered on. It looked creepy and scary. The dark orange light filtered around the room. I freaked out. I pulled the door open, but nearly fainted, I was so shocked. I was standing on a large balcony, halfway up a mountain! I turned to Bailey. "But- uh- wha- how?"

"Close the door," she ordered.

"But-" I protested.

"Close the door!" she repeated.

I slammed the door shut, leaving only the orange lightbulb as a source of light.

"Now they can get in," Bailey said, satisfied.

"We're already here," said a voice.

I shrieked. Bailey lunged at me and clapped a hand across my mouth.

"Hush, Aubrey!" she shushed me. "Lauren- Yvonne, Callie- is that you?"

A short, pretty blond girl with tons of freckles and brilliant green braces stepped out from behind a tall trash can. She was holding her nose. As soon as she was clear of the garbage can, she unplugged her nose and waved her hand in front of it. "Pee-yew! It _smells_ back there!"

"Callie!" I cried, having pried Bailey's hand off my mouth.

"Aubrey," she acknowledged me.

Behind Callie, a tall Asian-American girl with shiny, long black hair, bangs and glasses stepped out. She was followed by a shortish Indian girl with thick, wavy, looooooong black hair. They smiled at us. "Hi, Bae," they chorused, for we all called Bailey 'Bae'. "Hey, Aubrey."

"Hi, Yvonne," I said to the Asian-American one. "Hi, Lauren," to the Indian one.

"Tell them, tell them," squealed Bailey, jumping up and down.

"It's real," said Yvonne solemnly.

"What's real?" I asked.

"Bae was right," Callie murmured.

"About what?" I asked crossly.

Just then, Bailey burst with excitement. She ran to me and grabbed my shoulders. "Oh, Aubrey, don't you see?" she cried. "It's real- oh, it's real- and we're part of it now- the Matrix is real!"


	2. Chapter 2: Getting to Morpheus

**Sorry for the shortness, but I promise you'll meet Niobe, Morpheus, Link and the boys in the next chapter, which will be very long!**

**Please take my poll, I need it to write the story!**

"Who else knows?" I gasped.

"Ky and Javier," answered Callie promptly. I blushed. Javier McDowell was Callie's twin brother, two minutes younger, and I had a huge crush on him. Ky Laase was his best friend.

"Anyone else."

"No."

"Any kids from Zion on your ship?"

"Two- Zeus is Morpheus's son, and Sawyer is Link's son."

"Cool," I said.

"Yeah," breathed Bailey.

"So-" I began.

"Let's get you to Zion," Lauren interrupted.

"Good idea," agreed Yvonne.

Bailey grabbed my arm, and we opened the door onto a busy street. We ran out.

"Where are we?" shouted Callie over the howling wind and honking cars.

"I think we're on Thirty-Second Avenue," yelled Bailey.

"Oh, I know where we are!" shouted Yvonne. "Let's go! Follow me, little ducklings!"

We ran down the street and through a few buildings. Finally we arrived at a really tall… gray… skyscraper. We entered. They led me through a network of confusing hallways, and finally we got to a pair of huge, bolted, brown double doors.

"He's in there. Go on in." Lauren's voice was quiet- an anomaly!

"Who?" I asked, although I already knew the answer.

"Morpheus, of course," Callie answered, unbolting the door. It swung wide open. "Go on in."


	3. Chapter 3: Neo and All Those Dead People

**This is a really long chapter, as promised! And I did bring some characters 'back to life', as requested by a few friends. However, there is a Matrix Revolutions spoiler in the final part of the chapter, so... if you haven't seen it and want to, don't read the last few paragraphs! (Although that is when the good stuff starts to happen!)**

I swallowed hard and stepped through the doors.

A tall African-American man was standing, clothed in black with a black cloak, at the window. His shiny head was bald. At first I thought it was Director Nick Fury, which made me giggle, which made Morpheus turn around.

I reassured myself that it was NOT Nick Fury with this thought: _It's okay, Aubrey- he has no eye patch._

"So you're Aubrey Williams." He scrutinized my dark blue YOLO shirt, my dark blue jeans, my pink-and-gray Nikes, and my pigtailed shoulder-length mud-brown hair. He seemed… disgusted. "We will have to adjust your… wardrobe."

I mentally flipped out. _How does he know my name?!_

"Your friends told me about you. It was I who allowed them to let you come along."

_What am I, a companion dog?_

"Otherwise, your friends would have disappeared. You would have been alone at your school in the Matrix. Your best friend Bailey- quick on her feet and in her mind- persuaded me to let you come along."

_Mental note: thank Bae!_

"Shall we bring you to Zion?"

"Yes!" I nearly yelled.

"Do you know what the Matrix is?"

"Yep!" I said proudly. "I've seen the movies!"

He stiffened and the glint of a smile that had formed when I yelled _Yes_ slid off his face quicker than you could say 'Matrix'.

"The- movies- are not entirely correct," he said stiffly. "They killed some people who are not entirely dead."

"_Not entirely dead?_" I scoffed. "That's impossible. You have to be dead or alive. You can't be nearly dead."

"Neo is in a coma," Morpheus muttered. "Trinity is living a living death. She sits by Neo's side every minute, barely eating, barely breathing. Maggie never died. Neither did Tank. And Switch is stuck in the Matrix. We simply cannot get her out. She is destined to stay there, or rather _here_, forever. Always fighting agents. The phone transportation never works."

"That's sad."

"Rather. Would you like to go see Zion?"

"You asked me that already," I pointed out.

"Just say yes or no, Aubrey."

"Yes."

His hands went behind his back. "You are positive?"

"Duh."

He brought his hands out and held them in front of him, outstretched toward me. "One more question."

"Shoot." I couldn't see what harm one question could do, except hold us up here.

He opened his fists. "Red? Or blue? Red will-"

"I know what red does! Redachu! I choose you!" I exclaimed.

He looked at me like I was psycho, which actually might be true. "Redachu?"

"Pikachu, with red- ah, you wouldn't get it," I sighed. "It's Matrix stuff."

"If you are to come with us, you must rid your mind of things from the Matrix," Morpheus instructed. "Immediately."

"But I _like_ Pokemon," I complained.

"Oh. It is Pokemon, is it? I had quite the time persuading Bailey to become… unattached to Pokemon."

"Oh." _That_ explained why Bailey hadn't talked about Pokemon for the past few weeks.

"Red." I grabbed the red pill and swallowed it.

I walked carefully after Morpheus. He was giving me a tour of the ship. I had just woken up from my extremely freaky being-unplugged-from-the-machines dream, so I was a little shaky and scared.

"This is the Matrix room," he said, "or at least that's what we call it."

I looked around. There were fifteen beds with one metal headgear each. This was how people go into the Matrix. On one, there was a pretty blonde woman with her hair cut really short. This was Switch.

We walked through a few dinky hallways and doors. We arrived at a hallway with five doors- the one we'd just come out of, and four doors facing us.

"These are the dormitories," Morpheus said. "You will be sharing a dormitory with Bailey, Yvonne, Lauren and Callie. Each dormitory has a single bathroom."

I looked at a plate beside the door nearest me. Written in very old ink- maybe five years ago, or so- were four names, each in different handwritings:

_Zeus Morph_

Sawyer Anderson

_Ky Laase_

**Javier McDowell**

"That's the boys' dormitory, I guess," I guessed.

Morpheus nodded. "Correct."

"Your last name is Morph?" I asked.

"Zeus chose his last name," answered Morpheus.

I briefly wondered why Link's son had the last name Anderson, when that was Neo's last name, but then I joked in my nasal Agent Smith voice, "Mister Anderson." I didn't really mean to freak Morpheus out... not exactly...

Morpheus stumbled backwards. "You're an AGENT!" he yelled.

"Morpheus! Calm thyself! I'm not an agent," I explained. "I just do a really good Agent Smith impersonation."

Morpheus breathed in and out. In and out. "I believe you."

I thought about carrying the joke further by lunging for him and saying, _Are you sure, Mister Morpheus_, but I summed up that that would probably get myself killed.

I looked to the next door.

**Callie McDowell**

_Yvonne Ling_

Lauren Gupta

Bailey Zoss

I turned to Morpheus. Without a word, he produced a pen. I took it, and scribbled under Bailey's name:

_**Aubrey Williams**_

Morpheus nodded and took the pen. "I'm sure Bailey would love to finish your tour, or Niobe. Go on in."

I stepped into the room. Four boys and four girls froze.

"A- Aubrey!" stuttered Ky.

"Aubrey, we weren't expecting you for another two hours!" protested cute Javier.

"Hi, Aubrey, nice to meet you," said a tall African-American boy who could only be Zeus.

"Hi, Aubrey," muttered a boy with coffee-colored skin and long, dreadlocked black hair that would have looked terrible on anyone else but looked good on him. He hid behind his hair, and I fought the urge to laugh. He could only be Sawyer.

"Aubrey!" cried Bailey. "You made it!"

"Why wouldn't I?" I joked.

Yvonne sent a glare Callie's way- odd, I _never_ saw Yvonne glare- and Callie took a few steps toward me. "Aubrey, may I speak to you for a second?" she asked politely. It sounded forced. Callie was _never_ this polite.

"Uh, sure," I said.

"In the hallway?" asked Callie.

"Uh, sure!" I backed out of the room and sat down in the hallway. After a few moments, Callie came out.

"Hey, Aubrey," she said.

"Hi, Callie," I said.

She sat down next to me and faced me, legs criss-cross-applesauced. "So. What do you think of my brother?"

I rolled my eyes. _Another talk about her brother_? I'd been pestered about this all year!

"I like him, he's cute and funny," I said carefully. _There. I didn't reveal too much._ Actually, I was totally in like with him, not in love… uh… yet. "Can I go in now?"

"No, I want to talk to you about something else," Callie said. I sighed and resigned myself to a lecture. "Does Bailey like Javier?"

I gasped and reeled backward as if I'd been struck. "Of course not!" I reassured her. "Bailey isn't the boys type."

I stood up and reached for the doorknob. Callie leaped up and threw herself in my way. "Uh, let's finish your tour!" she said with fake cheeriness. "I'll send Bailey right out."

Then I got it. They were trying to keep me out of the room. I couldn't fathom why.

Callie went in.

Bailey came out, and we hugged. We walked around the ship, Bailey pointing out little details and introducing me to people. By the time we got to the hospital, I knew Niobe, Tank, Link, Zee who had apparently insisted on coming along with her husband and son, and Michael, whom everyone insisted on calling _Kid_. You know, the kid from the third movie who shot the gates open to let the Hammer get in? That was who he was. I recognized him immediately, as he was one of my favorite characters.

We arrived at the hospital in an hour and a half. A pretty woman with short red hair- Maggie- was trying to coax some bread into a hollow, gaunt, ghostlike Trinity. Her hair was straggly. She was very thin. And she was sitting next to a gaunt Neo.

I ran to Neo's side. I touched his face. "Wow, I can't believe I'm actually meetin-" My sentence died off when I saw that Neo had opened his eyes.

Neo spoke one sentence. "She is the Second One."


	4. Chapter 4: Party

Trinity launched herself at me and wrapped her arms around my stomach. I gasped for air. I couldn't begin to imagine why Trinity was trying to kill me. I had just saved Neo, after all-

Then I got it. Trinity was… _hugging _me?

OMG I WAS GETTING HUGGED BY TRINITY! **Squee!**

I smiled, which was a pretty nice thing to do considering I was choking for breath. "Yeah- uh- Trinity, you might want to put me down now," I gasped with my remaining half a breath of air.

Trinity put me down and I took a huge breath. "You saved him," she said in awe.

"I didn't do anything," I said, which was sadly true.

"You got him out of his coma," Trinity argued.

Maggie saved me from having to argue with my favorite Matrix fighter of all time by leaping in between us. "Trinity dear, why don't you and Neo have something to eat and let the girl go on with her tour."

Trinity nodded, took some bread, tore it in half, and gave some to Neo. Bailey and I left them sitting there eating bread.

Bailey was silent the whole way back to the room. Another anomaly. Bailey was almost always talking. Whether it was about a movie, or a book, or Pokemon, she would never stop chattering. So of course I was worried.

"Bae, you okay?"

"Yeah," she said quietly without looking at me.

"You sure?"

"I'm fine," she said stiffly.

"Suit yourself." We walked the whole way without saying another word.

When we arrived at the room, Bailey knocked three times.

"Come in!" shouted a chorus of voices.

We entered and I gasped. They had set up a party for me! There were five beds- all gray and boring- lined up on one side of the wall. They looked like they had been pushed there. A table in the middle was set up to look like a party table, but nearly everything was gray. It was the saddest party I'd ever seen. I sighed but I made up my mind to pretend like I loved it.

Set up were nine bowls of… runny porridge was the best way I could describe it. It was disgusting-looking. And there was a loaf of dry, crusty bread that I assured myself was good. The third group of things on the table were nine glasses full of water that actually looked pure and clear.

"Morpheus let us have a whole loaf of bread," sighed Lauren in delight.

"Is it good?" I asked.

"Yes! Part of the reason we kept bringing in new people was because each time Morpheus let us have some bread!" joked Ky.

We all laughed and sat down to eat.

I tasted the porridge and nearly spat it out. "This is disgusting!" I exclaimed.

They all laughed. "Yeah," said Javier, "we all don't like it but it's the only food we've got except for the bread."

"And the bread's hard to make," Callie chimed in.

"It's very scarce," Zeus said.

"It's imported from the machines," Sawyer said quietly.

"Sawyer here is our expert on the machines!" said Ky brightly, thumping Sawyer on the back.

Sawyer turned to him, and his dark brown eyes were now flashing with rage. "That's not funny."

A silence fell over the table.

"What happened?" I asked.

Sawyer turned his angry eyes on me, but Zeus stepped in. "Sawyer, it's okay. She's new, and it's only right for a newcomer to be curious."

The anger in Sawyer's eyes relaxed. "Fine."

Zeus sat down, and said to me, "Sawyer was captured by the machines as a baby and inhabited by a machine for a year. He forced it out of his mind, but barely survived."

"I'm glad you survived," I said for no reason in particular. I guess I just wanted him to like me instead of thinking of me as the curious girl that he hated.

We ate in silence for a few moments.

"What's the Second One?" I asked after a pause.

It was like I'd dropped a bomb. Bailey's nostrils flared. Callie breathed in sharply. Lauren nearly toppled out of her chair. The spoon dropped out of Yvonne's hand. Ky jerked like he'd been hit. Javier's eyes widened. Zeus spat out a bit of his porridge in surprise.

Only Sawyer remained calm. He tossed a dreadlock out of his eyes and watched me with mild curiosity.

When everyone had calmed down, Ky leaned over and switched off the lightbulb. Now we were in almost complete darkness. The candle in the middle of the table was our only light, flickering off of our barely-illuminated faces with a vengeance.

"It is said…" began Zeus in a deep voice, "that there would come a girl of the Gifted program in the Matrix. She would have powers like everyone else's combined, and more."

I inhaled sharply. "But Neo said that I was the Second One!"


	5. Chapter 5: Surprises

Everyone remained silent for a few moments. Then Ky started to laugh. It was forced, not a normal laugh. "Ha, ha, ha. That's a good one, Aubrey. You're not normally that funny!"

"It's true," Bailey said quietly. Bailey was not known to be quiet so this surprised us all. And Lauren toppled out of her chair.

As Zeus helped Lauren back up onto her chair courteously, I explained my encounter with Neo. Everyone gasped, shocked, when I recounted the opening of Neo's eyes. Well, except me and Bailey. We stayed noiseless. She stayed rigid as a pole, a look of serene anger on her face.

"Neo's conscious?" asked Ky.

"You're the Second One?" asked Javier.

"I guess so," I said shakily.

Sawyer started to tremble. "May I speak to you privately for a moment?"

"Sure," I said. "Let's, uh…"

"We can speak in the boy's dormitory," he said, and grabbed my wrist with surprising strength. "Please."

I followed him as he pulled me into the boy's dormitory and shut the door behind us.

When he turned, his eyes were full of tears. He flung himself at me and grabbed me tight. "You're alive!" he cried through his tears, which I now realized were of joy. "You're alive!"

"Sawyer! Calm down!" I said, extricating myself from his grasp. "Yes, I'm alive. What's weird about that, exactly?"

"Back when I was a machine-" I winced at this, but he didn't seem to notice- "I, or rather the machine in me, killed the girl who was rumored to be the Second One. And it was also rumored that-"

"That what?" I asked when he paused.

He inhaled through his nose and exhaled through his nose, held his head up straight and looked me in the eyes. "It was also rumored that I would fall in love with the Second One."


	6. Note

Sorry, guys- I deleted chapter six. It was too hard to work with- I just couldn't think of what to write next. Redo!

-atrfla


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